Car coupling



Jul 17, 1923. 1,461,769

H. EGGERS, JR

CAR COUPLING Filed June 29, 192i s Sheets-Sheet 1 a J15. Eyyaizs; J

Jul -17, 1923. Y 1,461,769

J. H. EGGERS. JR

CAR COUPLING Filed June 29. 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 saw W- July 17, 1923.

' 1,461,769 J. H. EGGERS, JR

CAR COUPLING Filed June 29. 1921 s Sheets-Sheet s Patented July 17, 1923.

UNITED STATES Metres JOHNH. neennsJn, or ,nunrrnenuneflnnmua.

one COUPLING.

Application filed J'une29, .1921. Serial No. 481,369. 3

T 0 all whom it may concern i i i Be it known that I, JOH H. Eeeims, Jr., a oltizen of the United States, residing at Huntingburg, in the countyof Dubois and Stateof Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements 111 Car Couplings, ofwhlchthe following s a SPBCIfiCZLUOIL.

Thisinventionrelatesto car couplings and has for its object the provision of a coupling by the use of which. two carsmay be coupled without any effort on the part of knuckle 4, asclearly shown in. Fig. l, the

the attendant and. whether i the knuckles are both in openposition or both in closed position or one open and one closed. The invention seeks to provide 'a coupling in which, as the draw heads come together, the knuckles may move past; each other, and then assume the coupling relation, means being provided to hold theknuckles in' coupled which will be particularly pointed outinthe appended claim.

In the accompanying drawings which.

. fully illustrate myiinvention- @Figure 1. is a. perspective view of one end of a freight car having my improved coupler applied thereto; i i 1 Fig. 2 is an enlarged planview showing two couplers in thecoupled position;

1*igm3 is a similar view showing the position of the knuckles immediately. after the initial impact;

Fig. 4; is a plan .away and in horizontal section showing the knuckles in an intermediate position and illustrating the manner in which they clear each-other prior to the final step of the coupling operation; l

, Fig.15isa view, partlyin side elevation 14' is provided to limit the upward throw and partly in ertical section, of two drawheads coupled together;

Fig.6 is a detail vertical section on the;

line 616 of Fig.2;

. Fig. 7. 's a view, partly in plan andpartly in horizontal section, of another form of knuckle" and pivotal mounting for the same. Fig. 8 is a deballSBCtlOILSllIllltlI' to Fig.

/ (Shut showing the partsin another position. f Whilethe car 1' is illustrated as a freight relation and which means will be. moved out; of the way of the knuckles as the draw heads Other 010- view with parts broken car, itis to be understood that'the coupling is adapted for.use upon passenger cars as.

mounted on the under side ofthe car atthe end thereof inthe usual manner and is'cone' well as freightcars. The drawhead 2 is structed with forwardly projecting side'arms f 3,;one ofwhich carries the knuckle 4 and between which isdisposedthelocking block or head5. One side arm 3has its extremity curved slightly inwardly, as shown at 16,

and forked orbifurcated to receive the .knuckle being asubstantially oblong block .pivotally mounted between the branchesof the bifurcation for movement in a horizontal furcation and an intermediate angular portion 8 which engages an angular bore or opening through the innerfend of the knuckle, and a spring 9 1s coiled around the upper end of-the said. pin and has its ends secured respectively to thekpin" and to'the top of the drawhead so: thatthe tendency of the spring to unwind or uncoil serves to move the knuckle toward the open or uncoupled position. To prevent the.

knuckle moving to open position when :cars

are coupled together and'also to permit the uncoupling of cars, when desired, 1 provide .a locking member consisting of a knuckle lock 10. disposed vertically atthe rear of the knuckle and immediately adjacent the I same so. astobe engaged "by the flat face ,11 ofthe knuckle when the cars are coupled.

:the side arm 3 andmay be withdrawn by manipulating a rock shaft 13 which is mounted upon the end of the car and equipped atits outer end with an operating of'the handle l land thereby prevent complete withdrawal of the lock 10. When sald lockfis raised, it is supported by. a shoulder This locking member 10 is slid-able vertically through an opening 12 in the upper side of 11 at the upper end of theface 1'1 and will rest on said shoulder. as long as theknuckle isin' uncoupled position. a

Upon the upper side'of the-"drawhead, at

theinnerends of the side arms 3, I. provide the bearing lugs 17 and 111 'thesaid lugsI- journal a rock shaft 18 which carries the locking head or block The said-locking head or block '5 substantially fills the space between the side arms 3 and is providedupon its sides with lugs 19 adapted toseat 1n notches or recesses 20 in the side,

arms so that the block or head will be prevented from droppingwbelow its operative.

position and the strain upon the rock shaft 18 will be "minimized:Extending; rear- =:Wardly' frorn the lockinghead orblockat the Center thereof is a lug 21' in which is engaged an eye "22. at theiupper end-of a link 23 which passes i downwardly through an opening24c in the drawheadiand has its lower 1 i end engaged "with a crank 25lextending rear- '=wardlynfrornv a rockishaft 26 journaled' in suitable bearings upon theunder side of the -drawhead, Thesaid: rock shaft 26 is providedratnits outer end. withta crank 27 and gin thel'lower end of said vcrank lisloosely engaged 'aiconnecting rod 28 'provided with':a

head 29in rear :of the crankfso thatwhile the said connecting rod" may :Inove' rear- 'wardlythrough'the crank without impartinga'notion "thereto, forward'rnovernent of the connecting rod williact upon the crank torock the1shaft,26 and. thereby exert a pull. through the linkm23iiupon the head or locking block 5J-to swing-the l atter upwardly, as shown in Fig. '5}. q The front endflof the connecting rod 28 is piyotally engagedin an outwardly projecting crank 30 at the lower end ofgthe pivot pin" 7 andthe intermediate gportion of the said rod is supported by a bearing bracket 31 on the'under side of the drawhead. A spring 32 is coiled around the conneotlng rod ln'rear of the saidbra'cket 31 and bears against the said bracket and against an abutinentor shoulder on the rodsoftha't' the spring, by itsvexpansion, tends to hold the rodxinits rear position and thereby-cooperates with the spring 9 to hold the knuckle normally in opener uncoupled "position, i

The crank 30, in the illustrated arrange inent, projects outwardly "from the "pivot zpin .7 but it may project inwardly in" which "event thecrank 27' would extend normally upwardly instead of downwardlyr lt will, of course, be understood that the crank-is secured on the pinafter the flatter is inserted downwardly-through the 1 side ar and theknuckle; I v y It. will be readily noted upon reference to the draWings'tha-t the flat face 11 at the inner end of the knuckle is disposed normally in rrear of the pivot and eccentrictheretoso that, when. the .vlo'ck 10 Y is lowered, the enigagement between theface 111 and the said lo-ck twillllimit the movementiofthe knuckle s under, the influencebfthezspringsfl and so that the: knuckle will extendtransversely fto vthe drawheadandrat airight angle to the r .l'rside fOfthe' same, as shownlfiig. 2! I Wh -two drawheads come together in the; act of 'coupling, the lock "pin' havin g been withdrawn, 'the outer sides or edges of the knuckles .upon. the .drawheads i will impinge "against each other," as will be readily uniderstood upon reference to Fig, 3, and the impact will cause the said knuckles to swing toward the rear of their respective drawheads, a'svshown in said figure, thereby increasing the tension of-the springs 9 and causing the cranks 30-to swing outwardly or toward'the'front endsof their respective drawheads. The connecting rods 28 willbe thereby drawn forwardly andi'the shaft 26 .rockedso that the locking head's o'rfb'lock's 5 4 will be raised, as. shown in 'l igi 5 and here- 'inbeforedescribedi l Thesaid'locking"heads orqblocks will thus be' lif-ted frorn the path f of movement bf the knucklesfwhich may I 1 swing under the said heads -'-or blocksfasin- 3 dica'te'd in Fig. 3', and the c'ontinuedlmovement of thef'drawheads- Will -"carry the knuckles past each other to the positionsh'own iril i-gue. T When the knucklesreach the po'sitio'n shown in Fig. 4,' theFSpringsQ and 32 will be free to act'and will then swing the,

linuclrlesfto their .resp'ective'nornialwtransverse positions and ea'ch' knuckle will assume 'ELPO'SIUOII in rear of theother knuckleand in advance of the locking blockin theop- 7 poseddrawheadNThi's 7 relative outward movement of the knuckles P w1ll,"*of course, effect rearw'ard'inovement, of -the "r'e'specti-ve connecting-rods- 28 and the rock shafts 26 will then be free to freturn to their normal positions under theinfluence o'f-"grayity' "acting upon the rela'tively 'heavy locking "heads or blocks 5. Said heads or blocks'will then return to 'the'fpositio'n"shown'in Fig. 2 and will cooperate w'ithlthe' locks 10- 't'o prevent the knuckles moving; to uncoupled position. It will-be'understood-that the'power moving the cars toward eachother fis'cut-ofl' I" at the momentfiof impact," and the slight re- A action or joltimpartedt0 the standing "car by the impact will inove'a'thecars slightly in directionaway fr'on1 -each other and thereby permit the v knuckles =to-'co'1n'e intof "coupledfiengagement and permit the locking" 1 a art, the released knucklejflniay swing out- I looks 10 I 'drawhe'ad to wherreeends r the knuckles will pass more easily. It will thus be seen that I have provided a very simple construction whereby two cars may be automatically coupled whatever may be the positions of the knuckles upon the respective drawheads. It will be understood that the spring 9 or the spring 32 may be omitted as they exercise the same function, but I prefer to employ both springs as weaker springs may then be used and also because the device will not become entirely inoperative if one spring should be broken.- My

which extend rearwardly or inwardly to carry the respective pivot pins. In Fig. 7, the side arm 35 is constructed with a horizontally disposed notch or recess 36 which receives the circular or arcuate tongue 37' on the knuckle 38, the said tongue 37 being provided with a shoulder 39 adaptedto engage a locking pin a0 which is insertedvertically through the side arm and is removable in the same manner as the locking pin 10 in the first described form of the invention is removable. The pivot pin 4:1 is of the same construction as thepivot pin 7 and operates in the same manner. The locking pin 40 by its engagement with the shoulder 39 limits the movement of the knuckle toward the uncoupled position but 'when it is desired to uncouple the cars, the

pin may be raised out of engagement with the shoulder and the knuckle may then swing to the uncoupled position, as will be readily understood.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new'is:

A car coupling comprising a drawhead, a knuckle pivotally mounted at the end ofthe drawhead at one side of the same, yieldable meansholding the knuckle normally in uncoupled position, a locking head pivotally mounted upon the'drawhead at the rear of the knuckle and normally supported by the drawhead in the path of an opposed knuckle,

a rock shaft mountedon the under side of i the drawhead, connections between said rock shaft andthe locking head, and connections between the said rock shaft and the knuckle whereby inward movement of the knuckle will raise the locking head coupling operation. 1 y

In testimony whereof I affix my signature. JOHN H.EGGERS, JR. [L.S.]

to permit the 

